wilder

Formswilders, wildering, wildered

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative of wild.

   The river grows wilder as it rushes through the canyon.

   Their parties became wilder with each passing year.

   Note

   The regular comparative, built with -er as one-syllable adjectives usually are; more wild exists but sounds marked beside it. It carries every sense of wild, from untamed animals to unruly parties and uninhibited behavior, so context decides which one is meant. The same spelling also belongs to a separate verb, the verb meaning "bewilder", which takes endings like wildered and wildering. The adjective never does.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To confuse or perplex someone, leaving them unsure and disoriented.

   Like wandering into a maze where every turn looks exactly the same.

   The twisting back streets wilder visitors who stray from the main square.

   A flood of conflicting instructions will wilder any newcomer to the office.

   Similarconfuse, perplex, disorient, baffle

   Note

   A word built from wild, probably with wilderness in mind and wander shaping its form: to wilder someone is to leave them lost, as if in untracked country. It turns up in verse and mostly as a participle, as in Emma Lazarus's "wildered mind," the "wildered Trojans" of The Fall of Troy, and Housman's "wildering night" in Last Poems (1922). Wildered describes the one who is lost; wildering describes whatever leads them astray.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2